Bailboad-cbossing



R. C. SUTPHIN.

RAILROAD CROSSING.

APPLICATION FILED Aue.24, 915.

Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

R. C. SUTPHIN.

RAILROAD CRGSSING.

APPucATloN FILED Aus.24. 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Aug. 29, 191'6 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT CAMM SUTPHIN, OF CORYDON, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNR 0F ONE-FOURTH T0 LAWRENCE O. STAPP AND ONE-FOURTH TO JAMES E. STAPP, BQTH OF CORYDON,

KENTUCKY.

RAILROAD-CROSSING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

T 0 ZZ whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, ROBERT C. SUTPHIN, a. citizen of the United States, and a resident of Corydon, in the county of Henderson and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and Improved Railroad-Crossing. of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a railroad crossing and has for its principal object to improve the construction of crossings so as to avoid gaps between the angle or vcorner rails and the crossing rails, whereby jolts as the wheels of the cars pass the crossing are prevented and noise and wear reduced to a minimum.

A more specific object of the invention is the provision of a crossing of the character referred to which is ofcomparatively simple and inexpensive construction, reliable and efficient in use, and so designed that the guard rails are normally in contact with the corner and crossing rails but yield inwardly by the cam action of the flanges of the wheels, such inward yielding being utilized to move aside the movable ends of the crossing rails so vas to be out of the way of the flanges of the wheels, but the movable sections of the crossing rails in the track on which the train or car is moving will remain in normal position so as to close the gap between the crossing rails and the angle or corner rails and thus form a continuous tread on which the wheels travel.

With such objects in view, and others which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises various novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be set Jforth with particularity in the following description and claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of the invention and wherein similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, Figure 1 is a plan view ot' a. railroad crossing with the parts in the position they occupy when a train is passing over one of the tracks; Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the intermediate portion of a connecting rail between adjacent corner or angle rails; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the parts at the point of crossing of two track rails; Fig. f1 is a perspective View of two crossing guard lview of a. connecting rail suitable for a railroad crossing of ninety degrees; Fig. 9 is a similar view showing slightly modified dctails; and Fig. 10 is a section on the line 1o 10, Fig. 9.

Referring to the drawing, A and B designate two crossing tracks having rails 1 and 1a, 2 and 2, alining with the usual angle or corner rails 3. The connecting rails at formlng continuations of the main rails are of Special construction so that gaps between the extremities of the communicating rails and adjacent corner rails will be avoided.

Each connecting rail 4 consists of a central stationary section 5 which has a base plate G, and on the base plate are longitudinally movable end sections 7, the outer ends of which are normally engaged with the corner rails 3 adjacent the vertices thereof. The central portions 5 of the connecting rails are each in the form of an isosceles triangle, with the base S thereof in linewith the wheel flange engaging edges of the main and corner rails, and the inner ends ot' the movable sections 7 are beveled to overlap the sides of the middle section 5. These overlapping sections are movably connected together by lugs or studs 9, Fig. 9., on the central section 5 engaging in longitudinal slots 10. These lugs have bolt extensions or stems 11 which pass through the slots 10, and interposed between the nuts 12 on these bolts 11 and the inner extremity of the sections 7 are stiff helical springs 13 which press the sections 7 inwardly toward the central section 5, but engagement of the sections is prevented loy shoulders 14 on the walls of the slots 10, which shoulders engage the ends of the studs 9. The members 7 are thus free to move longitudinally, while the wheel flange-engaging edges 15 of the sections 7 'will be kept in alinement with the corresponding edge S of the central section 5.

The movable end sections of the connect-y ing rails 4 are connected with guard rails 16 which extend entirely across the crossing from points several feet beyond the cross rails 4, and the extremities of these guard rails are formed with curves 17, so that thel anges of the wheels can readily enter` between the guard rails and the corner ,rails 3 and force the guard rails out of their normal contact with the angle rails. The guard rails are each made of one continuous piece, and in order that the guard rails of one track may cross the guard rails of the other track, the guard rails are halved at the points of crossing, as shown in Fig. 4. Thus the guard rail of one track has a recess 18 in its under side and the guard rail of .the other track has a recess 19 in its upper side, so that the guard rails will interlit in such a manner that they can have lateral movement. The guard rails are held normally against the associated track or running rails by stiff helical compression springs 20 which are held on bolts 21 that pass through the webs of the angle or corner rails 3 and the guard rails. The outer extremities oi the movable sections 7 of the crossing rails 4 are pivotally or otherwise connected at 22 with the guard rails. In Fig. 7 a rigid connection is shown between a guard rail and the outer extremity of the crossing rail, the guard rail being so mounted as to have longitudinal as well as transverse movement, whereby the outer extremity of the crossing rail will meet the intermediate section. In the case where one track crosses another obliquely, as shown in Fig. 1, those end sections 7 which form an acute angle with the adjacent corner rail are longitudinally operated through a link 23 which connects such section 7 with the adjacent guard rail, this link being disposed at an angle, which will cause the section. 7 to move longitudinally as the guard rail is thrown laterally. Those same sections 7 which are operatively connected with the guard rails through links 23 haveslot and pin connections 24 with their associated guard rails so as to provide freedom of movement..

Normally the guard rails are all in contact with their associated corner and cross rails, and the end sections 7 of the cross rails have their outer ends in engagement with the corner rails'. When a train moves along one of the tracks, as, for instance, the track A, the guard rails 16 thereof are moved laterally by the flanges 25 of the wheels 26 and the end sections 7 connected with these two guard rails are moved inwardly so as to provide gaps at the points 27, so that the flanges of the car wheels can freely pass, but it will be observed that the end sections 7 of the connecting rails 4 that are included in the track A, remain in normal position, that is to say, with their outer ends engaged with corner rails so that no gaps will'be formed, but a continuous surface for the wheels to pass over the crossing without jolts, noise or undue wear. After the tram has passed, the guard rails of the track A are returned to normal position twente and thereby restore the inwardly shifted end sections of the connecting rails of track B to their normal position.

:In the construction shown in Figs. 9 and 10 the end section 7 has at its base a laterally extending flange 7a provided with an inclined surface 7b, and engaging over this flange is a keeper 7c adjacent to the plate 6. This keeper 7c withstands the lateral pressure of the car wheels in passing over and longitudinally of the end sections 7, and the keeper is intended to take the place of the springs 18, shown in the other views. The keeper does not interfere with the end section 7 moving longitudinally as the guard rails are moved inwardly and outwardly.

From the foregoing description takeny in connection' with the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction and method of operation will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, and while I have described the principle of operation, together with the structure which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the structure shown is merely illustrative and that such changes may be made when desired as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. The combination of intersecting main tracks, corner rails at the point of intersection of the main track rails, crossing rails between the corner rails, each crossing rail having longitudinally movable end sections normally in Contact with the corner rails, laterally movable guard rails normally in Contact with the corner rails and crossing rails and yieldable laterally by the action of the wheel flanges, and connections between the gua-rd rails and end sections of the crossing rails for moving the latter inwardly by the movement of the guard rails, to provide gaps for the passage of wheel flanges, while the unmoved end sections of the other crossing rails form with the corner rails continuous tread surfaces for the car wheels, a guard rail of one track being crossed by both guard rails of the crossing track, and the guard rails being recessed at the points Where they cross each other, whereby all the guard rails lie in a common plane.

2. The combination of corner rails for track crossings, crossing rails between the corner rails, and each latter rail consisting of a central fixed section and longitudinally movable end sections normally in contact with the corner rails, movable guard rails located normally in Contact with the inner edges of the crossing and corner rails and movable laterally, and means connecting the end sections of the crossing rails with the adjacent guard rails, whereby the latter move the end sections inwardly to permit the flanges of the car wheels to pass, a guard rail of one track being crossed by both guard rails of the crossing track, and the guard rails 'being recessed at the points where they cross each other, whereby all the guard rails lie in a common plane. v

3. The combination of corner rails for track-crossings, crossing rails between the corner rails and including gap-closing meansl and movable guard rails having slidable overlapping joints at the points of crossing and operatively connected with the gapclosing means for moving the same to open position for permitting the passage oi wheels, a guard rail of one track being crossed by both guard rails of the crossing track, and the guard rails being recessed at the points where they cross each other,

whereby allrthe guard rails lie in a common plane.

4. The combination of a pair of opposed corner rails for a track crossing, a crossing rail extending between the vertices of the corner rails and comprising a fixed central section and longitudinally movable end sections, guard rails associated with the corner rails and movable laterally therefrom, connections between the end sections of the crossing rail and the guard rails, whereby the end sections are moved inwardly from the corner rails by the lateral movement of,

he guard rails, and means for slidab1yholding the inner ends of the outer sections' with respect to the central section, while maintaining all the sections in alinement, a guard rail of one track being crossed by both guard rails of the crossing track, and the guard rails` being recessed at the points where they cross each other, wherebyfall the `guard rails lie in a common plane.

means for yieldingly holding the guard rails in contact with the corner rails, whereby the wheel anges will move the guard sections inwardly toward each other and separate the end sections of the connecting rail from the corner rails.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speciiicationin the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBT. CAMM SUTPHIN.

Witnesses: J. E. STAPP, L. C. STAP1 Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents'each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

